Training of Instrumentalists and Development of New Technologies on SOFIA

TL;DR

This white paper highlights SOFIA's potential to enhance training for instrumentalists and advance new astronomical technologies through its unique mobility, flight opportunities, and in-flight instrument access, supporting diverse wavelength observations.

Contribution

It emphasizes SOFIA's role in training young instrumentalists and testing innovative instruments and technologies in a real observational environment.

Findings

SOFIA enables diverse wavelength observations from 0.3 microns to 1.6 mm.

It invests $10M annually in instrument development over 20 years.

Provides hands-on training and rapid testing of new astronomical instruments.

Abstract

This white paper is submitted to the Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010 Decadal Survey (Astro2010)1 Committee on the State of the Profession to emphasize the potential of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) to contribute to the training of instrumentalists and observers, and to related technology developments. This potential goes beyond the primary mission of SOFIA, which is to carry out unique, high priority astronomical research. SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP aircraft with a 2.5 meter telescope. It will enable astronomical observations anywhere, any time, and at most wavelengths between 0.3 microns and 1.6 mm not accessible from ground-based observatories. These attributes, accruing from the mobility and flight altitude of SOFIA, guarantee a wealth of scientific return. Its instrument teams (nine in the first generation) and guest investigators will do suborbital astronomy in a shirt-sleeve environment. The project will invest $10M per year in science instrument development over a lifetime of 20 years. This, frequent flight opportunities, and operation that enables rapid changes of science instruments and hands-on in-flight access to the instruments, assure a unique and extensive potential - both for training young instrumentalists and for encouraging and deploying nascent technologies. Novel instruments covering optical, infrared, and submillimeter bands can be developed for and tested on SOFIA by their developers (including apprentices) for their own observations and for those of guest observers, to validate technologies and maximize observational effectiveness.